Some Kind of Oz
by Pepperfan1
Summary: *Rewrite of an old fic* After accidentally running into a mysterious substance, Herald passes out in the Titans' medical bay and gets sent into a dream world. In the dream world, Herald is sent on a quest to save a maiden. Meanwhile, in the real world, Melvin is convinced Herald has fallen under a sleep spell and knows exactly how to break it. Jerald ship, contains cross dressing.


Always avoid the murky purple gas. Especially if that purple murky gas is low-floating and never been identified. Herald knew this fact of common sense, but yet still didn't avoid it. Of course, it was only partially his fault - the murky gas came out of nowhere and Herald had already opened up a portal back to the Tower when it arrived. But, he was tired by that point and instead of going somewhere else to exit the dimension he was currently in, he decided just to walk through it, figuring a little exposure wouldn't kill him. He was right about that, but the little exposure he did receive certainly had an effect on him.

Herald was already stumbling by the time he entered the tower. He held his face and leaned up against a wall in an attempt to steady himself. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to make it to his room, especially since his vision was getting blurry. Whatever that murky gas was, it was affecting him fast. Attempting to move himself forward, he stumbled around until he found a room that looked like it had a bed in it. It turned out to be the medical bay, but that was alright, because it in was a bed that Herald immediately passed out on.

It didn't take much time for Raven to figure out what was wrong with him. She had slipped away from helping Jericho get the child Titans ready for bed to see what had caused the fellow Titan to collapse like that. While she couldn't figure what had exactly caused the aliment, she did find out that Herald had got the first stage of an illness, which simply put him to sleep. She couldn't find any other effects, so she assumed that whatever had caused this illness only came in contact with him for a short time. Raven had already put her mind to seeing if she could find anything about this mysterious cause when her cloak was tugged on by one of the children. Melvin looked up at her with curious eyes.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked. Raven looked over to see where the girl's siblings were before answering. Both Timmy and Teether were being carried into their bedroom by Jericho, who evidently hadn't noticed Melvin slipping away.

"He just needs a little sleep, that's all." Raven answered the girl's question without going into much detail. She didn't know enough to fully explain, anyway. Melvin didn't seem to agree with this answer, and decided to investigate herself. Before Raven could stop her, Melvin had already crawled onto the end of the bed and stared at Herald's sleeping body. By the time Raven had pulled her off, Melvin had declared that,

"He must be under a curse, right? A sleeping curse?" She was wide-eyed now and would be devastated if she was told she was wrong. Raven gave a sigh, but still managed to muster a small smile.

"I'm reading into it. Now get into your room. Jericho is waiting for you." She gave the little girl a small push and Melvin went off, convinced she was completely right. Raven turned to go into her own room.

Once Melvin entered her room and saw that her brothers were already asleep, she went to the book shelf and looked around until she found the fairy tale she wanted. Jericho went over to see why she hadn't gotten in bed yet and had a book shoved into his hands.

"We're reading this one tonight." Melvin declared, rushing back to her bed. Jericho looked at the title of the book and then shrugged his shoulders. Sleeping Beauty was a classic. Following the girl back to her bed, he sat down on the edge and let Melvin crawl into his lap. She opened up the book and began to read aloud. The only time Jericho stopped her was to get her to be slightly quieter, so she wouldn't wake up her siblings.

When Herald awoke, he was no longer in the medical bay. Instead, he was in what looked like an empty land with a light pink sky and a dusty brown ground. Standing up, he tried to wipe the dust off of him and looked around. The only thing that appeared to be there besides him was a small object dead ahead of him. Figuring there was no other option, he jogged towards the object in hopes that it would help him find out where he was.

Turns out, it wasn't an object he had spotted, but a person. A person Herald could recognize. "Kole?" He asked. The girl turned around confused, but then widened her eyes once she realized who he was.

"It's about time you got here!" She was suddenly up in the air, looking down at him. "And that's not my name." Herald lifted an eyebrow.

"It's not?" This girl looked exactly like Kole, pink antennas and all. Then again, Kole couldn't fly…

"Name's Nymph," The Kole look-a-like declared, "And you were sent here to save the Fair Maiden." Well, that was new information. Herald took a step back.

"Excuse me?"

"Were you not listening?" Nymph snapped, "You're here to save the Fair Maiden. Why else would you have fallen from the sky?" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Herald took a moment to process this information.

"So, what you're saying is that, I've been sent to this land to save someone?" That was the best he could make out of all this. The floating girl shrugged.

"I don't know if you were sent here, but you get to save the Fair Maiden anyway." She began to float away with no warning, and Herald, unsure of what else to do, began to follow her.

"Hey, wait a minute!" He called out. Nymph looked behind her but didn't fully turn around.

"Hmm?"

"If I'm really here to save a Fair Maiden, then will I get out of here once I do? Speaking of which, where am I anyway?" He needed to know these things. Nymph fully turned around now, crossing her arms.

"It's selfish of you just to think of the Fair Maiden as an exit, you know?" Before Herald could defend himself, the girl continued. "But yes, I suppose if you save him you'll get out of here. This place doesn't really have a name, by the way." She turned to float off once more. But Herald now had another questioned to be answered.

"He?" He asked, jogging up to meet Nymph face-to-face. He was greeted with a confused look when he got up there.

"Yes?" She didn't understand why that needed to be a question. "He was kidnapped by the Witch and needs to be saved from his towered imprisonment. Pretty simple, really." Herald's interest was perked now. The 'Fair Maiden' he was supposed to be saving was male, and since this Nymph character looked like someone he knew, then maybe he did too.

"Can you tell me what he looks like?" It was an innocent question, but Nymph was evidently done with answering question. She turned around, grabbed his shoulders, and gave him a good shaking.

"You'll find out when you save him!" She quit shaking him and pointed forward. Herald had to steady himself again. He still wanted to know what this 'Maiden' looked like, but he supposed asking questions was now off limits. "You have three trials to get through before you can reach the Fair Maiden's tower!"

"And the exit." Herald mumbled. That was still the most important thing in his mind.

"Whatever." She dismissed his comment. "You have to get past a lake, a cave, and a princess." Herald gave her a confused look. That didn't sound as serious as she was making it out to be.

"That doesn't sound so hard." Herald gave a smile. "I can do that." He didn't notice Nymph rolling her eyes.

"Great. The lake is straight ahead. I'll meet you again once you cross it." And with that, she disappeared. Herald almost questioned that, but then disregarded it. He had a lake to cross.

Much like Nymph said, the lake wasn't too far ahead of where Herald already was. It was a small lake, with a smaller flat path covering it. He went up and tapped the path with his foot. It was stable. He looked around. No other signs of danger were around. Smiling smugly, Herald made his way onto the path and began crossing it. He didn't see why this was considered a trial; clearly nothing was hard about this. Then a piranha suddenly flew past him. Herald stumbled back a little. He wasn't excepting that. Or for it to come back. He tried to get a closer look at the creature. He could have sworn that it looked less like a fish and more like a human infant, but it was going so fast he couldn't really tell. Its speed also made it seem like there was more than one coming at him. Herald didn't think that attempting to fight this creature was the best idea, so he decided to just try and out run it. There was only one of it, after all.

But as he ran along the path, it seemed to increase in length. Soon he couldn't see the end of the lake as he could before. He tried running faster, but that didn't do anything. It also seemed like the piranha-like creature was trying to attack him now, instead of just trying to scare him. Herald slid to stop, no longer wanting to waste his energy running. He supposed this is the reason why this lake was one of the trials. He tried to piece together what was going on. The path seemed to only start becoming infinite when the piranha-create started attacking, so it would make sense to stop the creature to make the path return to normal length. But the question was, how to stop it?

Herald didn't move, figuring maybe observing the creature would help him some. It seemed like as Herald moved less, so did the piranha-infant-creature, making it easier to see what it was targeting. It didn't want to attack Herald it turns out, but just nibble on him a little. It kept trying to chomp on his hood or mask, but Herald easily managed to duck away from it. He peered forward. The other side of the lake was becoming slighter closer. Herald gave a satisfied smile. His plan was working, all he had to do now was fully stop the creature, and he already had a plan. The creature wanted something to chew on, so why not give it something to? Pulling off his cape, Herald held it out in front of him. "Here ya go!" He called out for no apparent reason, "Chew on this!" The cape was torn away from his hand within in seconds. Herald gained another smug grin and finished walking across path, undisturbed. Only when he had one foot off the path did he look behind him to confirm what the creature looked like. It was more human-like than anything, looking more like an infant with gills and fins than an actual fish. Herald couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he almost recognized the infant too. That was certainly weird.

The moment Herald's other foot stepped off the path, the lake disappeared and Nymph reappeared. Herald looked behind him in confusion and then back at the floating girl, but before he could question anything, Nymph already had something to say.

"I see you made it past the first trial and only lost a bit of clothing. Congratulations." She seemed to genuinely mean that. Herald then assumed that the trails disappeared after they were completed, taking care of that thought, but he still had a question.

"How come you didn't warn me about the, you know, infant-piranha creature?" He didn't sound as irritated as he hoped he would.

"You never asked." The floating the girl replied. Herald resisted pointing out that earlier she made it clear she didn't like being asked questions. He guessed she was fickle about that then. She had turned and again pointed forward. "The cave is right up there."

"Can you tell me anything about it?" Herald hoped he would get an answer that didn't involve shaking. And he did.

"It's the Cave of Echoes." Herald waited for more, but it never came. Instead, the Nymph just disappeared again, evidently feeling like that was enough to get him through the next trial. He supposed that made sense, though. He was supposed to go through these trails alone, for whatever reason he was sent there. He pondered that as he made his way to the cave. The only thing he knew was that he was somehow sent from the medical bay to this unnamed land. Did it have something to do with the murky gas? That would make sense; Herald had heard of dimensional gases that had the same powers as portals, so maybe inhaling even a little of it had sent him here? This wasn't a dimension he had seen before, but then again, neither was that murky purple gas. But, then why was he alright now? Before, his vision was blurred and he couldn't straight.

Herald didn't have time to try and answer that question, as he had reached the entrance of the echo cave. It was a small cave, and didn't look too deep. Much like the lake, Herald assumed he could cross it with little difficulty. But this time, he had slightly more caution when starting.

Once Herald had one foot in the cave, he gave it a quick look-around before continuing in. It was a dark and empty cave, with there being one column in the middle of it, with an object resting on it. What it seemed like was that the way out was around the column. Herald knew it most likely wasn't going to be the easy, but it was a start.

It didn't take him too long to reach the column, but as he got closer to it, the column expanded in width, making it impossible to pass. Herald looked upwards towards the object on top, figuring that it was the key to getting past the column. The column was completely flat, so there was no way he could climb up to the object. Herald thought for a second. Since this was an echo cave, maybe he had to make vocal contact with the object?

"Hello?" He called out upward, not sure of what else to say. Evidently that was all he needed to, because the object suddenly turned around and dropped its mouth open. Out of its mouth came an ear-splitting shriek that sent Herald flying backwards. Herald could barely get back on his feet and blocking his ears seemed to do nothing. Even worse, the sound bounced off the cave walls at an ever stronger force.

At least now Herald knew why it was called the Cave of Echoes.

The sound was messing with his thinking. Herald's head was pounding, and the sound waves were still making him stumble back. This proved to be helpful, though, as the farther he got from the creature, the quieter the sound got. Not by much, but it was enough to allow Herald to think just a little bit. All he knew about this cave creature was that it was activated by sound. So, maybe the way to deactivate it was through silence. Herald stumbled his way into a corner and tried his best to plug his ears more. The silent treatment it was.

That tactic did not last long, as apparently being quiet only made everything worse. Whatever the creature was, it did not like being ignored, and the loudness and intensity of the sound waves increased. Herald had to catch himself from flying into the wall. He needed a new plan. He had little time to think of one, as suddenly he was being pulled towards the creature. It really wanted attention, it seemed.

Once Herald was again at the column, the only thing he could think to do was the thing he did to start everything. "Hello?" He called out. This didn't seem to do anything, but Herald could have sworn the intensity of the sound waves decreased just a tiny bit. So he tried to continue the conversation with whatever came to his mind. "My name Herald. Do you have a name?" The column lowered slightly, and the sound decreased slightly. But Herald didn't get answer. "That's alright, you don't have to answer." He continued on anyway. "Have you been here a while? I just got here…" he went on for a little while, with it staying a monologue the entire time. Soon enough, it stopped working. Nothing got worse, but the column never moved again and the sound waves remained at the same intensity. They were at a point where Herald no longer had a splitting headache, but his ears were still ringing. So he could think more clearly.

Interaction had calmed the creature down, but now it was getting bored. And Herald assumed that if it was bored it would start screaming louder again. He also assumed that if he began to ignore it again the creature would also start screaming louder again. So, Herald determined that he had to give the creature attention, but without having a conversation with it. He paced around for a few seconds, trying to think. Nothing was really coming to his mind. He kept pacing, until, he suddenly had an idea.

"Hush little baby," Herald dropped his voice low, and sang the first song to come to mind, "don't say a word, daddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird." This plan seemed to work almost immediately, as the sound waves began to die down rapidly. The column budged only a little. No point in stopping now. "And if that mockingbird don't sing, daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring." Herald was attempting to pace around the column now, as if that would help him get out sooner. It didn't open up a path or anything, but it did lower the column down to a point where he could see what kind of creature it was. It was a rock monster of sorts, in the shape of a human infant. Strange, like the fish creature. Also like the fish creature, Herald couldn't quite explain why, but it looked familiar. Its eyelids were slipping a little. So maybe if Herald kept going just a little longer…

"And if that diamond ring turns brass, daddy's gonna buy you a looking glass. And if that looking glass-" he had no need to continue. The rock infant had fallen asleep, and the column disappeared, leaving an empty cave and an exit. Herald gave a small smile and no second thought to running out of it.

Much like the lake, the cave disappeared once he left it, and Nymph soon appeared in front of him. "This one must have been an easier trial." She mused. "You didn't lose anything clothing this time." Herald gave a little scoff, still a little cocky from escaping the cave.

"Neither trial was difficult." Nymph gave him a deadpan look, and almost mentioned that there was dried blood in his ear. Almost.

"The final trail is the princess. Well, her body guard, really. The princess won't attack you." Herald gave a nod. That made sense to him. But, he was curious about one thing.

"When do I get to fight the Witch?" Nymph raised an eyebrow.

"Witch?"

"Yeah. You said she kidnapped the Fair Maiden." Nymph gave a nod, as if she was just then remembering that she had in fact said that.

"Right. It wasn't really a kidnapping. More like, the Witch needed to practice her containment spell, and he volunteered. So no Witch fighting."

Nymph didn't quite understand why Herald looked so confused.

"So why does he need saving if he's willingly there? Why did he volunteer in first place?"

"Because he doesn't question things, unlike you! Now go and finish the third trial!" Nymph was done with Herald's curiosity and disappeared after thrusting her arm out in a forward direction. Herald gave a frown. If the Fair Maiden wasn't kidnapped, what was the point of saving him? He still went forward anyway. He was told there was an exit there, if the Nymph wasn't lying about that too.

It didn't take too long to reach the third trial, and it was certainly nice to see. Instead of the plain empty lands Herald was greeted with a tall tower, with a smaller dark building placed next to it and an empty picnic blanket in front of it. Okay, there really wasn't too much there, but there was more than just one thing, so it was enough for Herald. He causally walked up to the empty blanket and looked around. He expected the before-mentioned princess to be there, or maybe the guard Nymph told him about. Before he could call out to see if anyone was around, a small girl suddenly appeared in front of him, making him jump.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before." She gave him a big smile and stuck out her hand. "My name's Princess." Herald had to crouch down just to shake her hand. As he did, he noticed Princess looked exactly like Melvin. If she hadn't introduced herself, he would have assumed she was. "What's your name?" She asked sweetly, keeping a grip on his hand. Herald couldn't pull away.

"Herald." He answered, wondering why he was losing a strength contest to a small child.

"That's nice. Did you come to play with me?" Princess didn't seem to notice Herald struggling. "I'm really lonely. It's just me and him." She pointed towards her left. When Herald turned to look, the girl quickly grabbed onto his other wrist, and he turned back too quickly to actually see what she was pointing at.

"Actually, I'm here to see someone else." He was getting nervous now, and he could have sworn the girl's already big eyes got bigger. "You see, he's pretty lonely too, and-"

"But so am I!" Princess had enough strength to yank Herald forward to meet him eye-to-eye. "Please play with me?" It was hard to resist the girl. Maybe it was her sad face, maybe it was the grip she had on Herald's wrists.

"Well," He answered hesitantly, "Maybe I could stay for a few minutes…"

The small girl let out a shriek, and the next thing Herald knew he was being dragged left onto the picnic basket. Once he was sat down, Princess ran off to get something from the smaller dark building. This allowed Herald to focus his attention back, at least for a second. This Princess child had some sort of control over him. But how? Herald was at least twice her size, she shouldn't have overpowered him that easily.

Herald didn't have any more time to think, as a shadow soon covered him and distracted his attention upward. Towering above him was what he assumed to be Princess's bodyguard, a giant teddy bear decked out in armor. Why was Herald surprised that the Melvin-look-a-like had a Bobby-look-a-like as a body guard?

Princess came back in no time flat, carrying with her a shaking tray of tea. The body guard seemed pleased by this and decided that Herald no longer needed to be stared down. Herald started to breathe a sigh of relief, but was cut off by the sudden shaking of the ground. Evidently body guard bear had to sit to drink his tea. Princess shoved a cup of tea towards Herald.

"Drink it up. The Witch made it for us fresh." Herald took the cup, but didn't want to drink it. He didn't trust anything made by a Witch, especially if that said thing was so black he couldn't see his reflection in it. Princess didn't seem affected by that and causally sipped on the cup. Noticing that Herald wasn't drinking any, she grabbed onto his wrist and stared up at him.

"Aren't you gonna drink any?" Her words were too sweet. "The Witch made it special." Herald squirmed a little, still mad he couldn't get his wrist free.

"No." He replied. "I like coffee better." Princess set her teacup down and placed her hand on top of the other, getting onto her knees to lean towards him better.

"But Herald, it's special! It's not nice to be mean to The Witch!" Herald didn't particularly think he was being mean, but again, the girl's stare was hard to escape. He bit his lip a little and stared down where his reflection should have been. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to try. He brought the cup up to his lips and took a small swig of the black drink. This was enough for Princess, who quickly went back to her original position.

Herald had to stop himself from spitting out the tea. That had to have been the bitterest thing he had ever tasted. That seemed to clear his mind some, too, because he was now less worried about pleasing Princess and more concerned about his main goal. He took a quick look around him. The guard bear and Princess had seemed to start up a conversation, and there was no Witch suddenly appearing out of nowhere to scold him for not liking her tea. He gave a silent sigh of relief. He had some time to think now.

He seriously doubted he could just sneak away for this one. That hadn't worked in the first two trials, anyway. Herald tapped the teacup a little, trying to remember anything that might help him here. The only thing the two trails had in common, besides the fact that the creatures were child-like, was that each trial required some interaction with the one causing the problems. With that logic, Herald had to talk to Princess to get to the Fair Maiden. He glanced over at her. She seemed calmer now, less likely to try and stare him into submission. He tried to causally start a conversation.

"So," He asked, "Do you know much about that Tower behind us?" He wanted to confirm suspicions he had been developing. Princess looked behind her, as if she forgot it was there.

"That's where the Fair Maiden lives." She answered, turning back. Herald gave a small smile. His suspicions were right. Now to test the next one he had.

"Could you tell me anything about him?" He questioned. He wanted to know if he would look like someone he knew when he met him. Princess bobbed her head a little.

"He has pretty hair. Like mine." She ran a hand through her hair to demonstrate. Herald wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he had a good guess. He didn't get long to think about it though, as suddenly Princess was trying to yank off his hood. "I want to see your hair!"

"I don't have much hair." Herald mumbled in response, attempting to gently push her away. He was telling the truth, his hair was shaved close to his head. When the hood was successfully down, Princess suddenly stopped. Herald gave her a confused look, but before he could ask anything she began shrieking and moving away from him. He instinctively took a swipe at his face, as if that was what was bothering her. A few specks of dried blood appeared on his glove. He thought for a second. Apparently, the sound waves from the second trial made his ears literally bleed. He looked back over at the now-terrified small child. He opened his mouth to explain to her that everything was fine, but then closed it again when the teddy bear guard decided to do his job. Herald was up and running before the guard could crush him.

Herald had no idea where to go, and a screaming child did not help him think. He dashed around the small area of the third trial, hoping it would through the body guard off. It did ever so slightly, but there had been a few close calls. He darted his eyes around looking for any sort of hiding place or anything. The dark building was the closest to him and he assumed it was unlocked, but he wasn't going to risk having the Witch after him. The only other place he could find was the Fair Maiden's tower.

Herald thought for a split second and decided to try it. It sounded better than getting crushed by a giant armored teddy bear foot, at least. Sliding to stop in front of the wooden door leading into the castle, he yanked on the handle and hoped it would work. By some sort of miracle Herald didn't dare to question, it did. He quickly dashed inside the tower and slammed to door shut, holding it just in case. Wooden doors did not scare off body guards, as he began kicking at the door. The first kick knocked Herald to the floor, but he still made sure to hold the door. For some reason, he also felt more comfortable when he shut his eyes. A few more kicks pounded at the door, but then they suddenly stopped. Herald opened up his eyes, confused on what was going on, but refused to open the door. Was this like the other two trials? Was escaping the body guard all he had to do? Were he and Princess gone?

His questions were answered once Nymph appeared in front of him. Herald stood up and causally brushed himself off. He still had a need to look smooth in front of her. "That wasn't so bad."

"I'm surprised you didn't piss yourself in fear." Was the floating girl's reply. Herald gave her a glare and started to put his hood up, only for her to sudden appear behind him.

"No time for that!" She shoved him towards the staircase, evidently not approving of his hood being up. "You have to save the Fair Maiden!"

"I know!" Herald whined, "I can get up the stairs myself!" He straightened up and began walking up the stairs. Nymph floated behind him, barely giving him any space. But Herald chose to ignore that. While escaping this land was still a goal in the back of his mind, at that point he was more focused on seeing the Fair Maiden. He had a pretty good idea of who it was, and had a need to know if he was right or not.

The staircase wasn't too long and soon enough Herald and Nymph were in front of the door leading to the room the Fair Maiden was being held in. Herald took a breath, and then opened the door. He didn't go into the room itself, though. He didn't need to; he could see what the Fair Maiden looked like from the doorway.

He was right, it definitely was a Jericho look-a-like. But, it wasn't exactly what he was expecting. The Fair Maiden was evidently a cross-dresser; the Jericho look-a-like was decked out in hair ribbons, a short frilly dress, matching stockings, and buckled shoes which he absentmindedly clicked together. He must not have noticed Herald opening the door.

Herald didn't really want to go in and disturb him. He was more intrigued by just looking. Who knew Jericho had enough hair for ribbons? Or that dresses that short weren't considered shirts?

Nymph was having none of that.

"Get in there you freaking weirdo!" She shoved Herald into the room. "Quit gawking and free him!" Nymph disappeared as soon as she shoved him inside. The shouting alerted the Fair Maiden and he looked up confused. Herald had to quickly regain his posture.

"I have come to rescue you!" He declared heroically. The Fair Maiden's eyes lit up excitedly. As Herald made his way to the other side of the room and wondered what kind of amazing things he'd have to do to save the Maiden. Fair Maiden stood up to meet him and held out his arms. The only thing keeping him in the tower was a pair of hand cuffs that could easily shake off. Herald was disappointed, but still tried to show off as he did the simple task.

He swiftly removed the oversized handcuffs, as if it wasn't a big deal. As Herald had planned, the Fair Maiden had found that task to be completely amazing, and basically jumped into his arms. Herald accepted this and scooped him into a bridal position. Now completely forgetting about finding an exit, Herald found himself leaning in for a kiss. The Fair Maiden accepted.

But then suddenly…

It had been hours since Melvin had finished the story and had been put to bed. She tried sleeping multiple times, but kept waking up. So she laid there staring at the ceiling, thinking about the ending of the story. It just had to work, right? There was no way it was wrong. It had to work. She sat up. She needed to find out.

Quietly getting out of bed, Melvin crept over to her bookshelf, grabbed Sleeping Beauty for reference, and tip toed out of the room. If she was going to get Herald out of his sleeping, she was going to need help.

Jericho's room was close to Melvin's, so within a minute she was knocking on his door and whispering his name. Thankfully Jericho was a light sleeper and could hear the soft knocks. He sat up and glanced at the clock. Who would need him a midnight? Sliding out of bed, he went over to the door and gingerly opened it. He wasn't expecting to see Melvin up at this hour, and crouched down to see what was going on. "We have to see Herald!" The small child whispered urgently, and grabbed onto Jericho's hand. Jericho gave her a quizzical look, but still obeyed. He didn't even know Herald was back yet.

Jericho was naturally concerned when Melvin brought him into the medical bay. He was more concerned when he saw Herald lying on the first bed. Jericho rushed over to him, and Melvin calmly followed behind, crawling onto the end of the bed. "He's fallen under a sleeping curse." She said matter-of-factly, and Jericho looked over at her horrified. She flipped to the back of the book. "And the only way to break the curse is the kiss of true love."

Jericho was confused for a second, and then breathed a silent sigh of relief. Melvin just wanted to act out her storybook, he assumed. He glanced back over at Herald, and then got a little worried again. If it wasn't a curse, then why was Herald asleep in the medical bay and not his own bed? Somebody would have told him if he was in there for a serious reason. Meanwhile, Melvin was done waiting for Jericho to take her seriously.

"Well, waiting are you waiting for?" She demanded to know. "Kiss him and break the curse!" It had not clicked in Jericho's mind that Melvin expected him to be the one to deliver the kiss of true love. He looked at her in confusion, pointing between him and the sleeping Titan. Melvin was not ready to wait anymore. "Yes! Now hurry up!"

Jericho was pretty sure what he was about to do was considered sexual assault, at least to a minor degree. But, he supposed it couldn't hurt to try, if for some reason Melvin was right. It would explain why Herald was in medical bay and no one told him. Besides, it was late at night and he didn't want Melvin getting too upset and waking everyone up. Leaning down, he gave the sleeping Herald a quick kiss on the lips and stood back up. He couldn't explain why he was flustered but he was. He took a step back, and waited for nothing to happen so he could put Melvin back to bed.

But then suddenly, Herald actually began to wake up. Melvin let out a squeal and Jericho hushed her. She clamped a hand over her mouth but kept giggling. Meanwhile, Herald held his head and he sat up, trying to figure out where he was. Glancing around, he didn't think he was in that land anymore. Jericho was in pants, and Melvin wasn't trying to brainwash him. So he assumed he had successfully completed his quest. But, still…

"Can someone explain what's going on?" His first answering was an excited laugh.

"I told you that true love's kiss would break the curse!" Melvin then hopped off of the bed and ran back towards her own room. Jericho attempted to reach out to her, but then gave up. She knew how to get back to her room, after all.

"… Do you know what's going on?" Herald asked again after Melvin had left. Jericho shrugged, blushing slightly. All he knew was that Herald was no longer asleep and Melvin may or may not have actually been right. Herald took note of the blush and comment from the child, and then gave a small nod, deciding not to bring it up. "Well," he started, moving on, "I just had the strangest dream." Jericho nodded in interest, approving of the topic change. Herald a small laugh before continuing. "Some chick that looked like Kole sent me on a quest to rescue this maiden." He paused for a second, wondering if he wanted to go on. Something in his mind told him to, so he did. "And there was princess that looked like Melvin, and her bodyguard was Bobby." Herald continued on about the fish and rock creatures, but his voice began trailing off as he got to the maiden. He didn't know it, but he blushed ever so slightly, too.

Jericho picked up on this, and gently pointed a finger towards himself. Herald almost didn't notice at first, and started to laugh awkwardly when he did. "Yeah, you where there to." He turned away slightly and mumbled. "You were the maiden." He didn't bring up the cross dressing or kiss, though. Jericho gave a small nod and looked away too. The two of them stayed in awkward silence until Herald finally couldn't take it any longer.

"You know, it's pretty late. We should turn in." Jericho gave a nod in agreement. He began to make his way towards the door slowly, to see if Herald would join him. Herald quickly got the hint and got out of the bed to join him. "I'll walk you to your room." Jericho again just nodded and allowed Herald to go in front of him. Herald then made sure to slow down some until the two were side-by-side. He just felt more comfortable that way. Jericho really did too, but was still embarrassed, so he made sure to stop and poked his head into the child Titans' room to see if Melvin made it in alright. Herald made sure to wait for him. Once it was found out that Melvin was secure in her bed, the two started off again for Jericho's room, which was just around the corner. Once his room was reached, neither Titan moved.

Herald didn't want to just leave Jericho, but he didn't want to make things more awkward than they already were. Thinking for a second, he decided to reach out and give Jericho's hand a small hold. Jericho didn't protest to this. After a short time of this, Herald pulled his hand away.

"I'll see you in the morning, alright?" Both Titans were blushing at that point, but Jericho's was much more prominent. Giving a nod and a small smile, Jericho slipped into his room. Herald made sure he stayed until Jericho's door was shut all the way. He then sighed and turned to go to his own room. He had no idea of what to make of what just happened. All he knew at that point was that he hoped for a normal dream next time he went to sleep.


End file.
